Marvel Planning to Retcon Fantastic Four

It looks like Marvel is planning to rewrite the history of the Fantastic Four.Marvel Comics today [...]

It looks like Marvel is planning to rewrite the history of the Fantastic Four.

Marvel Comics today released a new teaser image that poses the question, "Who gave the Fantastic Four their powers?" It also teases that "Marvel history is destroyed" in March 2019.

Take a look below:

Fantastic Four Retcon
(Photo: Marvel Entertainment)

The origin of the Fantastic Four is that they were a group of explorers who tried to take a ship into outer space and were bombarded by cosmic rays, which gave them their superpowers. The implication of that question in the new Marvel teaser is that this was no accident. There's someone behind the origin of the Fantastic Four, and that someone will presumably be revealed in the story coming in March.

It is unclear whether this will be tied into the rewriting of Marvel history that began in Marvel Legacy #1 and has continued in the pages of Avengers. That story has revealed that superpowered individuals have existed on Earth dating back to 1,000,000 BC when a diseased Celestial crashed and died on Earth, seeping into the planets very soil and influencing the evolution of the life living on it. This led to the rise of a prehistoric team of Avengers led by Odin and consisting of the first Iron Fist, the Sorcerer Supreme Agamotto, the first Ghost Rider, the first Starbrand, the first Black Panther, and Lady Phoenix.

It is also unclear whether this storyline about the destruction of Marvel history is contained to Fantastic Four or will spread throughout the Marvel publishing line. It may be just something Dan Slott and his collaborators are planning for the next big FF story, or we may soon receive additional teasers posing similar questions about the history of other major Marvel characters and teams such as Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

The Fantastic Four only recently returned to the Marvel Universe in the relaunched Fantastic Four series, which had been on hiatus since the 2015 Secret Wars event. During that time, Ben Grimm had joined the Guardians of the Galaxy and then SHIELD, Johnny Storm had become an Avenger and liaison to the Inhumans, and the Richards family and the Future Foundation were off exploring and recreating the Marvel multiverse. Sue, Reed, and the kids have since returned home just in time for Ben's marriage to longtime love Alicia Masters.

Who do you think gave the Fantastic Four their powers? What do you think the destruction of Marvel history means? Let us know what you think about it in the comments!

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